Ordinary People / Sakura's Investigation

For some reason, the figure wearing a hoodie appeared before her eyes.

When he took off his helmet, all she saw was a blank face.

"No... I don't know what Lin looks like..."

"But you can even resurrect them, so what if you don't know what they look like?"

"No! I can't let him do it this way..."

This method?

What kind of method is this? Is there something wrong with it?

She glanced at everyone again; they all wore the same smile.

The words caught in her throat; she was truly terrified at that moment, deeply afraid of the "resurrection" of Lin.

Whether she was afraid that Lin Zhen was already dead, or that she wanted to "resurrect" him, she couldn't say for sure.

"Are you resisting me? Are you afraid of me? I am you. I share the same feelings and memories as you. I love life just like you and want to protect everyone." Her smile grew more and more exaggerated, and the smiles on the faces of the people standing behind her changed along with hers. "This is the power of 'us'. The fact that you can use it means that we are of one mind."

"... But... but..."

"Do you still want Team Member Lin to see your cowardly side? Do you remember your promise? You're supposed to fight for your life."

"Of course I remember! That's why I—"

I... what?

Blood and masks flashed through her mind, but she didn't know what they meant. Several unseeing faces appeared and disappeared in the darkness.

What did she do to fulfill this promise?

And... what exactly is the agreement...?

"Yes, you did nothing wrong, so put away your cowardice. After we bring Team Member Lin back to this world, we must make sure he sees that you are completely different from that fragile little girl you once were, understand?"

"I see."

"Don't worry about anything. With your ability to control life and death, you can completely end the calamity of Honkai. At that time, whether it's them..." He pointed to the resurrected people, then spread his hands and stretched out to a blank space, "Or Team Member Lin, they will no longer need to fight. No one will die."

"Yes..."

"Finally, I want to emphasize again that I am the same as you. I love life, and I love Lin. So don't be afraid of me. Let 'we'... 'I' revive Team Member Lin."

The azure in her left eye seemed to be tainted by the deep red in her right eye, and was gradually replaced by it. Finally, a flamboyant smile appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, in the mountain behind the amusement park, a pair of bloodthirsty giant eyes opened.

Happy beginning of the month

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Chapter 80: Ordinary Person

"..."

An eerie silence fell over the command room. Everyone was sweating profusely and dared not look up at each other, not even at the back of Spasi, who sat in the commander-in-chief's seat.

A terrifying pressure from death hovered overhead, making their mouths dry and suppressing the nausea in their throats.

Spasi also kept his head down, his fingers tapping restlessly on the desk. If the others' expressions were merely unpleasant, his was completely black.

"Unbelievable..." Einstein's murmur echoed in the silent command room. Her dilated pupils reflected the scene in the Far East, separated by an ocean, and her fingers unconsciously clenched. "Could the Sixth Herrscher possibly isolate Honkai Energy reactions?"

Just now, two minutes ago, all the combat personnel who entered the amusement park lost signal and communication.

Without any screams or emergency responses, those people vanished without a trace in the still-busy amusement park, leaving only their location coordinates before they disappeared.

However, no Honkai Energy reaction was detected during this period.

The good news is that the Sixth Herrscher is indeed inside the amusement park; the bad news is that even after losing the combat strength of the Fifth Branch, they still haven't figured out the Herrscher's exact location.

"Could it be that Black Mist that's blocking the detector?" Einstein proposed a new hypothesis.

The Sixth Herrscher is clearly different from the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Herrscher manipulate natural disasters. Her powers are as unique as those of the First and Second Herrscher; the Black Mist is a power that cannot be explained by existing scientific theories.

The First Herrscher is called the Herrscher of Reason, while the Second Herrscher is Herrscher of the Void; their titles are more abstract.

"Given the Sixth Herrscher's ability to cause biological cells to wither, I will now temporarily name her the Herrscher of Death. Unless absolutely necessary, do not get too close to the Herrscher of Death, as her powers are a weapon of destruction that even the most potent poisons cannot match for biological beings."

They've even started targeting living organisms directly...?

Einstein was fully aware of the fact that Honkai changes along with humanity, and this time, the Herrscher of Death is simply the most direct and simple weapon of extermination created against living beings.

Should we delve deeper?

Spasi looked deeply weary, and he sighed helplessly, "Are there any more troops that can be mobilized?"

The branch had limited armed forces; the few squads that disappeared in the amusement park were all the combat members they had.

"Lin's signal is closer." Einstein was not discouraged by the setback. She stared at a slow-moving signal. "But it's difficult for him to conduct the search alone. Doctor Mei has entrusted me with command of a special unit. I will contact 'her'."

"Senior~ Where to next? To see a movie?"

"Haha, don't call me that, it's so cheesy."

A couple who had just come out of the amusement park passed by. Lin slightly turned to the side, shifted his cane a little further in, and as they passed by, they glanced at the limping Lin with great curiosity, their eyes filled with not just pity but also sympathy.

Lin also sized them up from under his hood. They were the kind of couple you see everywhere on the street. They were probably two students. The boy was of average appearance but had a cheerful smile, and the girl Xiao Ke, clinging to her boyfriend's hand and acting coquettishly.

It's very common; so common that if you look further ahead in Lin, you can see several similar couples.

"..."

Ordinary...

The word popped into Lin's mind; it seemed someone had said it to him before.

They are oblivious to the truth of the world. To them, everything they own is the whole world. It is these ordinary people who constitute human society and also constitute the "world" in Lin's eyes.

Living carefree without knowing the truth, Lin thought of Anna, the girl who always yelled at him to be an old man. Even now, he is still wondering if her fate would have been different if he had kept the secret of the Honkai from her back then.

Is it wrong to live an ordinary life?

Just then, Lin caught a glimpse of a hurried figure walking towards him. He tried to move aside to avoid it, but the person also saw him and tried to step aside as well. As a result, the two of them ended up face to face, blocking each other's way.

"Forehead..."

The man, who looked to be in his thirties or forties, gave Lin an awkward smile. This time, Lin didn't move and let him pass. However, perhaps because the man was in such a hurry, he accidentally kicked Lin's cane away.

Lin naturally fell to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The man quickly helped Lin up.

Lin shook off his hand, not angry, and replied calmly, "It's nothing. Is there something urgent?"

"I'm going to buy medicine for my wife. My son is waiting for me, so I walked a little faster. I'm really sorry. Do you need me to help you walk?" The man was indeed a little embarrassed. He heard Lin's voice, which sounded young but mature and calm. He felt that this disabled child must have experienced many similar things, and he felt a pang of pity for him.

"No need. Is your son in here?" Lin looked at the amusement park and asked the man.

"Yes, we do business here. We're finishing up today and heading home, so I'm planning to finish up what I have on hand first... My wife's illness is a rather troublesome and stubborn disease. Fortunately, we're not short of money and we can manage, but we need to buy medicine frequently."

Perhaps noticing Lin's interest in his family affairs, the man began to ramble on about various things, mostly mundane matters from his daily life.

There was no daily training to fight against the Honkai, nor any thrilling battles where they fought to the death on the battlefield.

It was just the mundane necessities of life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea—something all too common, yet somehow distant to Lin.

"Oh, by the way, young man, what brings you here?"

Upon discovering that Lin had headed towards the amusement park, the man instinctively asked a question, since most of the amusement park's facilities were inaccessible to disabled people, so Lin probably wasn't there to play.

"I'm here to find someone."

"A girl?"

"...Um."

"That's wonderful!" The man smiled sincerely at Lin, a genuine smile spreading across his honest, round face. "Have fun, and cherish the girls who like you; they are treasures of the world. I remember..."

The man recounted some events from back then, the truth of which was unknown, but his smile never wavered.

Authentic and ordinary.

After listening, Lin nodded. "When the alarm sounds in a little while, go to take refuge. The police will take your son back."

"Huh?"

He didn't immediately understand the meaning of Lin's words, but Lin had already turned and walked away slowly. He looked at Lin's back, puzzled, but Lin didn't seem to have any intention of talking to him anymore, so he could only shrug and walk away.

The two passed each other, one going inwards, the other outwards.

Many people have told Lin that he could live an ordinary life.

Just like this man, she has a happy and fulfilling family, healthy limbs, a future without uncertainty, and a genuine smile.

But someone has to do it.

If he doesn't move forward, doesn't walk down this dark and unknown road, then those couples, that man, and so many "nameless" people will lose their world.

Most people in the world are ordinary, so ordinary that they can become complicated over money, a concert ticket, or a sudden event, experiencing greed, anger, fear, hatred...

But Lin wanted to protect this complexity; he didn't want them to become as simple as him, as extraordinary.

Even if he does evil, he believes that humanity will realize its mistakes and its evil, and move towards the light, retaining that complexity while becoming a better "human being".

Soul must think the same way; even if they take different paths, her beliefs will not change.

That initial intention to protect may have been buried over the long river of time, but it still emits a faint light.

So Lin had to stop her and kill her here.

This is to protect humanity.

The belief in protecting forests.

The belief in protecting... the soul.

Chapter 81: Sakura's Search

"Here you can see flocks of birds taking off from the hillside and landing in the amusement park's designated feeding area. This sight is called 'Goose Landing,' but the birds aren't geese. The person who named it doesn't know the species; he just thought it sounded nice and was convenient."

"Just like the numbers on the soldiers of the Moths of Flame, they have their own names, but the numbers make it easier for the commanders to give them orders, just like a rancher who numbers pigs on a farm. As if you only need to say the number to drag the pig out to slaughter it."

Her short hair had grown long and reached her waist. Her slender figure and fair body were half-hidden by a black and white dress that resembled both a combat uniform and a dress. Two deep red eyes were set in her pale face. She sat on the railing behind the mountain, her hands resting on it, gazing at the city as the sun was about to set.

She placed a plush rabbit head beside her; she loved this toy, as it made her feel much better in this city full of Honkai zombie.

Some high-level Honkai zombie discovered her whereabouts, but she dealt with them instantly. In the Fire Moth, she learned a special way of communication between Honkai zombie and Honkai Beast, so once one of them discovers her, she could be discovered by all the Honkai creature in the area immediately.

So she dealt with them swiftly and decisively, dismembering them on the spot before they could even use their communication methods to notify the other Honkai zombie, and using Black Mist to completely destroy their bodies, leaving not even a trace.

To conserve some Honkai Energy, she didn't dismantle their clothes along with the rest. The remaining clothes were still in the plush toy store. To assess the area before reinforcements arrived, she went out to the back mountain.

Seeing the Honkai zombie running rampant in the city deepened the gloom in her heart, but it quickly disappeared.

She has the ability to resurrect them all as human beings.

Glancing at the bird feeding area she had visited before, she sighed with emotion, though she didn't know why she said it. Wasn't it like questioning the moths that chase fire?

"What do you think, Team Member Lin?"

"..."

A person wearing a helmet stood behind her. The futuristic helmet seemed somewhat out of place in this apocalyptic scene. The azure viewing window was not lit, but reflected a golden light in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Team Member Lin? Is he asleep?" She smiled and waved in front of him.

"No, I was just recalling what happened before you resurrected me." "Lin's" tone sounded exactly the same as in my memory—calm, indifferent, and with a subtle distance. "You mean you suddenly gained the power to resurrect people, and then..."

He glanced at the others and asked, "So you've brought us back to life?"

"Yes." Her face was beaming with a lovely smile.

"... Have you ever wondered where this power came from?"

"Hmm..." She was taken aback by the sudden question about "Lin," then shook her head blankly, "No."

"I suspect it is..." Lin slowly began, preparing to express his conjecture.